Free factsheet: EIS at a glance

Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

SEIS in a nutshell

Help start-up companies get off the ground and for every £1 you invest, save up to 64p in income and capital gains tax. You also qualify for IHT exemption, potentially saving up to another 40p per £1 you invest.

Downing Ventures EIS

The Downing
Ventures EIS portfolio invests in early stage companies in areas like
enterprise software, health technology and e-commerce. The Downing Ventures EIS
was previously known as the Downing Growth EIS Fund 4.

Important: The information on this website is for experienced investors. It is not advice nor a research or personal recommendation to invest. If you’re unsure, please seek advice. Investments are for the long term. They are high risk and illiquid and can fall as well as rise in value, so you could get back less than you invest.

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The manager

Downing LLP is an established
manager of VCTs, EIS and IHT products. Most of its investment strategies have
been conservative to date, however changes to VCT and EIS rules means it is now
focussing on growth capital opportunities for new investment.

Downing has three
main sources of investment opportunities for the Ventures fund. The first is the range of Downing VCTs,
which co-invest alongside the Ventures EIS fund and allows Downing to
provide substantial funding support to investee firms. Secondly, Downing has a network of VC funds across the UK, Europe and the States including
Unilever Ventures, Balderton Capital and BGF Ventures. Downing has also built partnerships with government
agencies, including the European Space Agency and the London Co-Investment
Fund.

The offer

The fund seeks to invest £500,000 to £1
million in early-stage businesses, often as part of larger rounds alongside co-investors.
It focusses on a broad range of sectors, including enterprise software, health
technology and e-commerce.

Downing looks for talented entrepreneurs; early traction; defensible
technology or strategy; businesses that are ready to scale; and a large addressable
market. Companies will typically be at a stage where they have launched a
product, are generating some revenue, and have a strong management team and
board.

Examples of portfolio companies

Previous investments made by the Downing Ventures team include
Live Better With, MoveGB and Open Bionics. Please note, these
are examples only: new investments may be made in other companies.

Live Better With

Livebetterwith is an e-commerce healthcare platform helping people with
long-term medical conditions live better through non-medical products. It has created an online marketplace for products for people living with
cancer. Products tackle common problems, from night sweats to nausea or hair
loss, with the aim to make day‐to‐day life better for patients. The company launched in the UK and the US,
with offices in London and New York. Downing-managed funds have invested a
total of £1.1 million in the company to date.

MoveGB

Move GB gives individuals access to thousands of gyms, pools and studios
all under one membership. It was named the third fastest growing tech company
in the UK in the Deloitte Fast 50 in November 2017.

Open Bionics

Open Bionics is a
Bristol start-up that is developing a new wave of advanced bionic hands and
arms. The company uses 3D printing and scanning technology to produce
custom-made prosthetics at a lower manufacturing cost than usual, in an area
considered an expensive area of prosthetics. Its first commercial product, the
Hero Arm, secured commercial licenses from Disney, Marvel and Pixar to design
arms for children with themes from Star Wars, Frozen and the Marvel Universe. Downing-managed funds invested alongside Foresight Williams
Technology EIS Fund, Ananda Impact Ventures and Rathbone Nominees.

Risks – important

This, like all investments available through Wealth Club,
is only for experienced investors happy to make their own investment decisions
without advice.

EIS investments are high-risk so should only form part of a
balanced portfolio and you should not invest money you cannot afford to lose.
They also tend to be illiquid and hard to sell and value. Before you invest,
please carefully read the Risks and Commitments and
the offer documents to ensure you fully understand the risks.

Tax rules can change, and benefits depend on
circumstances.

This EIS fund invests in early-stage businesses which are
more likely to fail than larger ones. So you should expect a number of failures
in the portfolio.

Fees & charges

A summary of the
fees and charges is shown below.

Initial charge

4%

Investee company initial charge

2%

Annual charge

2.5%

Performance fee

20 to 30%

More detail on the charges

The initial charge is 4%, plus there is an additional 2% charge levied on the investee company. There is an annual management charge of 2.5% per annum plus VAT. When you invest through us, Wealth Club will receive initial commission (2%) and trail commission (0.5%).

There is a performance fee of 20% of any distribution to investors above a hurdle of £1 to £1.10 and 30% over £1.10, calculated on exit from the service.

Please see the provider’s documents, including the Key Information Document, for more details on fees.

Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled; please call or email us for details of this example of charges.

Read important documents and apply

Wealth Club aims to make it easier for
experienced investors to find information on – and apply for
– tax-efficient investments. You should base your investment decision on the
provider's documents and ensure you have read and fully understand them before
investing. This review is a marketing communication. It is not advice or a
personal or research recommendation to buy the investment mentioned. It does
not satisfy legal requirements promoting investment research independence and
is thus not subject to prohibitions on dealing ahead of its dissemination.

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The investment products on this website are not for everyone. They are generally higher risk and require a longer investment term. You may get back less than you invest. It is therefore important that you understand the Risks and Commitments of these products.

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